This invention relates in general to doors and more particularly to devices for closing doors once they are opened.
The typical door closer exerts a closing force on the door to which it is attached so that whenever the door is opened and thereafter released, the door will return to its closed position. The closing force is derived from a relatively strong spring within the device, and to prevent the spring from closing the door too quickly, most door closers are further provided with a damper in the form of a dashpot. The spring is always stressed so that the closing force is exerted on the door, even when the door is closed. This spring force must, of course, be overcome before the door opens, and due to the large magnitude of the force, children, elderly people, and the infirm often have great difficulty opening doors provided with door closers, particularly where the doors are heavy and necessitate heavy door closers to maintain them closed.